I love a good cup of [Music] water hola it's me again Ty roxon and here back again at use your difference the place to be if you want to take your culture awareness to the next level so last week we talked about the power buiness Index this week we talking about collectivism versus individualism if you remember correctly last week I was telling you how I was a walk in contradiction and you had to listen to this well here's how I come from a collectivist background and in collectivist societies people tend to define success in everything in terms of group dynamics so you hear things like I'm a good son we did this we do that we do that it's all we we we and that you know it's just often in cultures like Asian cultures a lot of Asian cultures a lot of African cultures and a lot of Latin American cultures contrast that with an individualistic Society like the US and a lot of um um Western European countries you find that the achievement is uh is given more significance so you were the first guy to do this you got this as the richest person um and success is defined as something in terms of your rights and how you uh approach something so I became this contradiction in the sense that my background was always there was always a lot of emphasis on being the one that respected the family name you know you couldn't be the the roxon that didn't do something well so everything that I did was monitored in the sense that I couldn't do things to shame the family but as I started to get older I started to really really you know find myself and you know in the process of moving and going to all these countries I got influenced you know I was in an American International School I started to do some individual individual things I started to Value achievement you know I started to want to to be the best at at anything that I did so it's always funny for me when I I go back home I you know I always have that mental cultural shift in my head all right I've got to remember this is not about me this is about what we're doing here as a family you know go home go say that and this is the rockon so um you know it it that that's in essence how that contrad comes into play but as the world becomes more Global and we become more globalized how do you find or how do you deal rather with people that have different cultural frames of reference from you say you are um someone from a collectivist background how would you deal with someone from an individualistic background if you someone from a a collective background and you're teaching a bunch of individualists then you you can start to create a situation where the first person to you know to get you know to answer this question or the person that gets the answer to the hardest question gets a certain amount of extra credit if you're a teacher that was working with a bunch of collectivists then you you you have to make it a situation where they come up with that group dynamic so you set them up in groups you you ask them questions like what did the group think of this why did the group respond to that answer and that makes them more comfortable uh this is uh this is often something that that that people in in groups especially as I've been in um university here it it's always funny when I I'm paired with people from different backgrounds and I see how they respond to uh to group uh assignments because some people dread it because they they feel like someone the loudest voice is going to take credit for everything and and and people and you know sometimes that tends to look like you know the quiet person didn't do anything so make make that person in the collectivist environment feel like they were part of the bigger picture and that's how you can get success this is this is how you can negotiate with business this is how you can um interact with with fellows and ladies from um different backgrounds say you're in a business setting you're in a meeting and you're leading a bunch of collectivist one thing you can do is make sure you have clear instructions ahead of time so if you're going to call out people you're going to ask out names and say Hey i' would like Tony or like uh you know Lily to say something make sure it's been stated before beforehand that you're you're going to actually call them out so it's not something that you'd say who has an opinion on this and no one responds because that way they know what to expect and it doesn't look like they're outshining someone else or they're they're stepping up and going outside of someone of some of their comfort zone really so make sure you are very clear with the instructions make sure you let them know what the clear path of the meeting is going to be and what to expect that way they feel comfortable and you know they can go out that meetting and feel like the group achiev something as a dynamic as and as a goal with individualist it's you know this is very very common in the western culture a lot of people that that are not familiar with the Western culture sometimes you know you've got things like sales quotas and in a sales environment that's a subculture within any environment that encourages achievement encourages uh rewards for getting that achievement and also have PE has people being recognized as uh hey you know Tony once again as an example was the highest selling uh salesperson this month and last month it was Lily you know that that's a dynamic that's done what happens though if you're in a sales environment and you're still in a you know collectivist collectivist culture one thing that you can do is have sales teams and that way a sales team wins versus a salesperson wins so you know they're very very um you know subtle tricks that you can use between these environments but one thing that I want to make clear is that there is not one Society that's better than another you know Japan you know has a a less individualistic mindset than uh than than America but that doesn't mean they haven't achieved a lot of success you know and and it doesn't matter you know same thing goes back and forth for several countries you know whether it's whether it's the northern um you know whe Scandinavian countries or whether it's Brazil or whether it's Nigeria or South Africa they've all achieved success within that um within you know whatever function that they believe in the one thing that you should take is learn how to communicate across this culture as opposed to say your culture is better than that learn how to embrace learn how to flex a certain muscle and then invite that as opposed to saying I can't believe that you didn't recognize this person or why do we have to wait for this whole group to work together okay so are you an individualist are you a collectivist I like to know and if you are you know a mix of both please let me know as well CU I often have to flex both muscles and I'm always curious to meet fellow people who uh who have had to do that all their lives so let me know in the comments below or on my website or any of the links that will be down below in the description box are you an individualist are you a collectivist till next week use your difference to make a difference [Music]